Legal Recruiting Firms: Not Just For Job Seekers

Legal recruitment firms are job market specialists who help legal professionals find gainful employment in the industry that they might not otherwise be able to find on their own. From an aspiring lawyer’s perspective, in order to find the job of their dreams, it is important to cast a wide net, hence why legal recruiters can be of so much help. But recruiting firms are valuable to more than just job seekers these days. Law firms and corporate counsel offices are using legal recruiters more than ever to find the best possible talent to fit their needs, no matter how niche or specialized.

Legal training goes beyond where one earned their J.D. The problem that many legal groups run into is sifting through countless resumes from seemingly qualified candidates, only to meet them in person and discover they have very little requisite knowledge or the necessary experience to fill the role properly. You need someone who can hit the ground running. Enter a legal recruiter. Their job is to get to know job candidates beyond their school and rank. Understanding what fields they are proficient in, have interest in, their strengths and weaknesses… Knowing candidates inside-and-out is the job of a legal recruiter.

It is extremely easy to learn about the benefits legal recruiters offer thanks to the Internet. These days, there are dozens of recruiters in every major city just itching to staff your firm or office with the right legal help. A good legal recruiter will take the time to understand the needs of your organization. Do you need a real estate attorney skilled in the commercial field with particular software expertise, or maybe a criminal defense attorney that has handled specific research tools? A good recruiter will take the time to understand you and your needs, then match what you are looking for to viable candidates.

Legal recruiters fundamentally understand the hiring process is not matching a resume against a checklist of desires. A good legal recruiter will go beyond the skillset to find the soft – or “personal” – skills that truly make or break an otherwise perfect employer-employee match. Nearly 20% of terminations in North America occur due to soft skills such as personality conflicts or office behavior, rather than the skills needed simply to perform the job. Anyone can look at a resume and match it against a list of generic needs. A recruiter that you can depend on, however, is one that will find the skill set and the personality you need for an impactful, long-term hire.

Making a bad hire can be costly. On-boarding, getting to know client matters, gaining the trust of partners, and a vigorous training regiment all contribute to the efforts a legal group must expend when they hire someone new. Let someone whose profession is finding great people match your firm to the perfect job candidate, rather than, say, the least busy person in your office. The time you save not pouring over resumes, slogging through interviews, and vetting candidates can be better spent getting work done.